This thesis explores educator beliefs, attitudes and practices in teaching First Nations, Inuit, Métis and Ethnic students in Canada, including Muslim and Arabic students. Research supports evidence of on-going systemic racism toward the First Nations, Métis and Inuit, and New Canadians in society, and therefore, within our schools and our classrooms. Evidence also exists regarding how racism, invisibly instilled in educators as societal norms, permeates classrooms and helps continue to perpetuate marginalization and Othering of students. The research question was: How can teachers begin to deconstruct Euro-Centric, White Dominant beliefs, practices, attitudes and expectations in order to positively impact all students and their academic well-being? I examine the questions: What are some teachers doing which positively impacts learning for all students? What can be done to help teachers realize that some of their teaching practices and ways of dealing with students are disrespectful to the individual children and contribute to systemic racism?

The purpose of this study was to examine teacher Levels of Technology Implementation (LoTi) self-ratings and student Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) scores. The study assessed the relationship between LoTi ratings and TAKS scores of 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students as reported in student records at Alamo Heights Independent School District (AHISD), San Antonio, Texas. The study determined the degree to which teacher LoTi self-ratings were a predictor of success on student TAKS exam scores for English Language Arts and Math, as reported in student records at Alamo Heights Independent School District, San Antonio, Texas. Further, the study examined whether teacher self-reported LoTi ratings were a predictor of success on student TAKS exam scores for the variable of socioeconomic status as reported in student records at Alamo Heights Independent School District, San Antonio, Texas. For the purpose of this study, school and student performance analysis was restricted to the Alamo Heights Junior School in the Alamo Heights Independent School District, San Antonio, Texas. The student data in the study derived from approximately 825 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students who took the math TAKS test in 2009 and approximately 946 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students who took the English Language Arts (ELA) TAKS test in 2009. The research findings for this study included: 1. In English Language Arts (ELA), a difference in achievement may be inferred between teacher LoTi levels and ELA TAKS scores. 2. In math, a difference in achievement may be inferred between teacher LoTi levels and math TAKS scores. 3. There was not a statistically significant difference between the teacher LoTi level and student mean scores on ELA TAKS for students in the low SES category. 4. There was not a statistically significant difference between the teacher LoTi level and student mean scores on math TAKS for students in the low SES category.

On January 14, 2004, President George W. Bush announced the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE). The goals of the vision include developing a new generation launch capability while completing assembly of the International Space Station (ISS) and retiring the Space Shuttle by 2010. In support of this goal, the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) initiated evaluation of hardware, infrastructure, and workforce skill mix needed to continue Space Shuttle flights until the projected 2010 retirement. The SSP also studied how NASA will deploy personnel from, and use the facilities of, the SSP to ensure that the Space Shuttle operates safely through its final flight, and to ensure personnel and facilities from the SSP are effectively transitioned to NASA’s exploration programs. NASA funding, like other federal agencies, is affected by various factors including domestic and international political environments, current and emerging technologies available to meet agency goals, and sustainability and potential economic return of federal expenditures. In this paper I will present a retrospective analysis of federal budget allocations to NASA as a percentage of the Federal Budget from years 1958 to 2010 (adjusted to 1979 dollars). The classic method for calculating net present value (NPV) is not well suited for projecting potential value of future R&D technologies. A quantitative analysis of R&D technologies transferred to private industry will be presented, as well as a description of a method of evaluating their significance will discussed relative to current budgetary considerations will likely for past, current and upcoming funding cycles. The opportunity at hand for NASA’s transition from SSP to Constellation in support of the VSE initiative is to advocate their culture as R&D innovators and emphasize the future benefit of increased funding. / text

The soil-borne, rhizosphere-competent, filamentous fungus Trichoderma virens is a well-known biocontrol agent able to control pathogenic fungi through the production of antibiotics, the induction of systemic resistance in host plants, or by directly parasitizing the competing fungus. Competition for iron is another means by which Trichoderma can hinder competing microorganisms, and siderophores are a means by which microorganisms obtain iron. In silico analysis of the T. virens genome suggested that two genes putatively encoding extracellular siderophore-producing nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) were present. In this study, a disruption was created in one of the genes, TvNPS6, to create a mutant unable to produce the NRPS TvNps6 (DeltaTvnps6). Previously, a mutant (DeltaTvsidD) had been generated with a disruption in the second gene (TvSIDD) encoding an NRPS thought to be involved in siderophore biosynthesis. A double mutant (DeltaDeltaTvsidDTvnps6) was generated by transformation of a DeltaTvsidD strain with a vector targeting disruption of TvNPS6. This resulted in transformants disrupted within both the putative siderophore-producing NRPSs. Thus, three mutants were available for analysis of the role of these genes in the ecology of T. virens. Transformants were confirmed by PCR and Southern blotting analysis. Phenotypic characterization of the mutants included both HPLC analysis of siderophore production, growth on agar and in liquid media, conidiation, germination in the presence of hydrogen peroxide, biocontrol against Pythium ultimum, in vitro confrontation against Rhizoctonia solani and growth with iron chelators to determine the contribution of reductive iron assimilation (RIA) compared to that of siderophores. The HPLC analysis demonstrated that T. virens Gv 29-8 (wild-type) produced a single siderophore peak when grown in an iron-depleted medium. This peak was not present in the DeltaTvnps6 and DeltaDeltaTvsidDTvnps6 mutants but was apparent with the DeltaTvsidD mutants. From the HPLC analysis, T. virens evidently produces a coprogen-type siderophore. Few differences were observed in the other phenotypic tests, though hydrogen peroxide showed some small inhibitory effects towards the DeltaTvnps6 mutants. The addition of chelators, which inhibit RIA, exerted some negative effects on all strains growing under iron-limited media, particularly the DeltaTvnps6 and DeltaDeltaTvsidDTvnps6 strains. This study demonstrated that although T. virens has two genes putatively encoding siderophore producing NRPSs, only the TvNPS6 gene was required for extracellular siderophore production. The greater sensitivity of the mutants towards the iron chelators suggests that unlike other other fungi studied, Trichoderma virens utilizes RIA, rather than siderophore production, as the primary means by which the fungus obtains iron in an iron-limited environment.

Simply put, Crown liability doctrine in Crown/Aboriginal Law in Canada is a mess. Demonstrably, there are fiduciary-based duties, fiduciary-based principles, an over-arching honour of the Crown principle, Crown honour-based duties, and a constitutional Crown/Aboriginal “reconciliation” imperative. How the various pieces are meant to fit together is atypically unclear. In this project, Ronald Dworkin’s rights thesis is invoked as a conceptual tool in an attempt to help bring some order to the disarray. It is argued that the Supreme Court of Canada made a fundamental (Dworkinian) mistake in the manner in which they adopted fiduciary concepts into the core of Crown/Aboriginal Law; that this mistake has led to a dysfunctional doctrine; and that the Supreme Court has implicitly acknowledged their error and are now in the process of incrementally mending their materially flawed doctrine. Crown liability doctrine in Crown/Aboriginal Law in Canada is now centrally organized around the principle that the honour of the Crown must always be upheld in applicable government dealings with Aboriginal peoples. Enforceable Crown honour-based “off-shoot” duties operate to regulate the mischief of Crown dishonour in constitutional contexts. The Supreme Court has now stated that a (non-conventional and fundamentally unresolved) Crown/Aboriginal fiduciary obligation is one such “off-shoot” duty. This emergent “essential legal framework” is meant to protect and facilitate the over-arching project of reconciling the pre-existence of Aboriginal societies with the de facto sovereignty of the Crown, which reconciliation project, it is argued here, is to be fundamentally undertaken by the executive and legislative branches of government working collaboratively with Aboriginal peoples. The judicial branch of government is then largely limited to the more modest task of regulating the mischief of constitutional Crown dishonour. This project ultimately purports to theorize this relatively new Crown honour-based framework, and to conceptualize what residual role there is for fiduciary accountability to play in applicable Crown/Aboriginal contexts moving forward. It is concluded there is likely only a narrow jurisdiction remaining for fiduciary accountability in Crown/Aboriginal contexts, which jurisdiction appears destined to take the form of conventional fiduciary doctrine which, as will be demonstrated, has itself been fundamentally reconfigured in recent years.